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Guest: Dr. Bruce Cordell. Topics: Maslow Windows, economic growth, the start of a new space program era. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Dr. Bruce Cordell for updates to his Maslow Window theory predicting an upcoming era of new space development and expansion. During the first segment of our 2 hour 2 minute discussion, Dr. Cordell started out with an example that he said showed Russian’s interest and importance in space. I’ll let it be a surprise, you decide. From there, Dr. Cordell explained the basics of the Maslow Window conditions but rather than going back decades and centuries in history as he has done in past shows to confirm the cycles and the big projects coming after the cycles, he started with President Kennedy, his economic policy, the return of ebullience to the country, and eventually our moon program. Bruce then jumped forward to recent times, pointing to milestones in our economy and national mindset over the years since Apollo and why he thinks conditions are right today to see a new major space program develop as part of economic and forward growth for the country which again, he suggested might be just around the corner. Much of the first segment was devoted to his explaining why what I just wrote is so. There were several email questions from listeners. For example, Jerry challenged Dr. Cordell by saying that things were very different today than in the time of JFK and the Apollo program. He said that today there would have be a refocus of the entire nation to overcome the lack of any ebullient feelings in the country or to kindle a desire to spend big money on space anything. Bruce agreed with Jerry but listen to his full explanation & rational for his theory. Bruce cited the lack of ebullience throughout the country, polls showing that most Americans have a negative view of things right now and for the future, and said this was all part of the coming turnaround leading to economic growth and major development projects that take place twice a century. Bruce received some questions about not wanting a government program but letting the private companies or commercial markets do the next big projects. He thought dependency on the government for big projects would continue for years to come due to the costs but welcomed commercial industry support and public private partnerships. Later in the segment, Bruce assigned a high degree of importance to the Chinese space program suggesting it might be part of the turnaround needed to return ebullience to the country to set the stage for a large project which he suggested might be a competitive space project due to China’s space program. Bruce also took this opportunity as he did in the next segment to advocate returning to the Moon as the next logical step in our space development program. He also cited recent comments made by the new Director of ESA that he said supported the coming Maslow Window.

In the second segment, Bruce returned to a question asked earlier by Bill about the possible impact of the 2016 presidential election on triggering this new, great space project. Bruce spoke directly to the idea of presidential impact & potential policy changes. He was asked if any of the candidates would strongly support such policies in the primaries and he and others suggested it would likely be done after a new president was elected, not during the campaign. Listen to his reasoning for this. This prompted me to get in there with my two cents worth on this discussion which was very different from what Bruce was talking about. Fortunately, my comments/rant did not go on for too long but see what you think of it. Post your thoughts on the blog, thumbs up or down. Bruce told me after the show that he appreciated my engaging him as I did in this particular show. During this segment, Bruce mentioned other examples of space events and happenings to support his overall theory. Later in the segment to support his thesis on the return of economic growth, he cited a recent Wall Street Journal article, “The Return of Growth Economics”(www.wsj.com/articles/the-return-of-growth-economics-1434063021). I supported the idea of the return to growth economics but in my comments I mentioned above, I took it further saying that a space project might be seen as a tool to benefit the national industry and spur economic growth. I also said it would not come from a space advocacy perspective but rather space would be used as a tool for national policy and benefit. Dennis Wingo recently addressed the economy in his article “Secular stagnation and space: a way beyond our current economic plateau” which you can read at http://room.eu.com/articles?id=88. Dennis is returning to The Space Show next month to discuss this and other items of interest. As our program was drawing to a close, Dr. Cordell offered us some takeaway points and a good set of concluding remarks.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. Bruce can be reached through his website, http://21stcenturywaves.com or through me.

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Guest: Tom Olson. Topics: Space year 2014 in review. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Tom Olson back to the show for his annual end of the year review show for the space year at hand, 2014. During the first segment of our last program for 2014, I asked Tom for positive memorable events in 2014 . Tom came well prepared for this question. Do you have the same memorable events list or a different one? Let us know on the blog. As Tom was going through his list of memorable positive events and developments for 2014, we took some email questions about Blue Atlas, the Delta IV and human rating it, and of course ULA. Another listener wanted to know what Tom thought of the idea of a prize for an on orbiting demo propellant depot and fuel transfer. Toward the end of the first segment, Dr. Lurio called in and talked about fuel depots, markets for them, NASA and more. We also talked about Virgin Galactic and SpaceShip2 plus what may be forthcoming from the NTSB report when it becomes available. Antares was also discussed before the break.

In the second segment, Jeff from Tucson called in about a possible Netscape Moment. Tom did not think much of a Netscape Moment, instead he talked about the concept of space scalable. I got in on the discussion as did others and this led us to our discussing reusability with SpaceX and would it be a game changer. Later in the segment, more was said about the Delta IV, ULA, Atlas and even SLS. For 2015, Tom talked about Bigelow Aerospace getting their modules up to the ISS. He also talked about Dragon V2 and Falcon Heavy. In addition, Tom mentioned Power Beaming test for SSP in space beaming power from point to point but in space. Of course SLS and Orion came up. Tom is not supportive of it, Dr. Lurio called in who is not supportive of it and holding up the fort for it was our friend SLS John. The latter part of the show was an ongoing give and take with Lurio, Tom and SLS John highly engaged in a back and forth but as you will hear, there were no winners. Tom and I did a bit of reminiscing because we go back with one another for more than a decade. We wished everyone a very Happy New Year and a great 2015. And remember, “y’all come back for more in 2015!”

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Tom Olson or any of the callers or emailiers through me.

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Guests: Tom Olson, Meagan Crawford. Topics: The 2014 Lightening Round Competition during the NewSpace 2014 Conference. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back both Tom Olson and Meagan Crawford to discuss the “Lightning Pitch” event in lieu of the customary Business Plan Competition to be held the first day of the NewSpace Conference 2014, July 24 in Silicon Valley. You can learn more about the NewSpace 2014 conference by visiting https://newspace.spacefrontier.org. To learn about the Lightening Pitch, go to http://newspacebpc.com/lightning-pitch-2014. In the first segment of our 90 minute show, Tom and Meagan described this year’s Lightening Pitch, talked about the sponsors and the $20,000 in prize money, and they gave us hints of what the new and expanded business plan competition for 2015 will be like. We honed in on the approaching entry deadline which is 5PM EDT on Saturday, June 7. There are no entry fees and all one has to do is submit up to a 3 page Executive Summary for their business startup idea. The selected contestants will have four minutes to deliver their pitch the first day of the NewSpace Conference, then they will have a 3 minutes Question and Answer session where contestants will field provoking questions from the “Shark Tank” of Investor/Judges. The winners will be announced that evening at a special Lightening Round conference VIP event. Submit your entry using compete@newspacebpc.com. During this segment, Tom and Meagan took questions about the history and overall success of the business plan competition, trends in NewSpace, oversight issues, team size and issues, and questions about winning topics and how to make a killer presentation.

In the second segment, we talked about space investments becoming routine and the possible timeline for this to happen. Our guests talked about nanotech & its influence on the entrepreneurial community. A listener asked our guests about competition bias and included space solar power projects (SSP) as an example. Another listener wanted to know if the competition was biased toward one person businesses. Here, our guests had much to say about teams, how to counter a one person plan, and why judges prefer seeing a team in place rather than just one person. Toward the end of the program, we talked about expected ROIs and exit strategy time lines for the winning plans, plus for the space industry in general. Both our guests summarized the Lightening Round by saying there was no entry fee, the deadline for a simple Executive Summary of no more than 3 pages is this Saturday, June 7, and they look forward to receiving your entry.

Post comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. You can reach our guests by using compete@newspacebpc.com or businessplan@newspacebpc.com.

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Guest: Dr. Clay Moltz. Topics: We discussed our guest’s new book, “Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space,” plus numerous related topics. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Dr. Clay Moltz to the show to discuss his new book “Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space.” Please remember to buy this book through the OGLF/The Space Show Amazon portal so Amazon will contribute to The Space Show. Our Amazon instructions are in every archive summary and on each Space Show blog entry. During the first segment of our 90 minute discussion, Dr. Moltz told us why he wrote the book which was to address orbital crowding, possible conflict in space and to bring these issues and others to the attention of the general public as space impacts everyone everyday. A major topic for our discussion was space debris. Using this field as an example, Dr. Moltz made a very strong case for rules of the road, space traffic control issues, and responsible behavior by both governments and the private sector. We talked about entrepreneurs and private groups resisting a more regulated environment and he made the case for the need for cooperation to avoid conflicts. Early in his book, he outlined three significant points of view regarding the debate over space policy, ranging from conflict & the military use of space was inevitable so prepare for it to avoiding problems by piecemeal global engagement to increasing the use of international space projects through international governance. Dr. Moltz received many email questions challenging a regulated environment and the need for more controls on space businesses and operations. We talked about the cubesat technology and growth of the industry, the lack of registration, & as the industry grows, possible crowding problems. We also discussed the U.N. treaties that seem to cover what we were talking about so why the need for more agreements & regulations?

In our second segment, we continued our human spaceflight discussion from the end of the first segment, plus we looked at space in other countries. We mostly focused on China, India, Iran, and North Korea among others. We talked about large scale industries that may develop over time such as SSP. GPS was an example, then a listener asked about cyberwarfare & the impact on space policy. Toward the end of the program, I asked about space interest among students at the Naval Postgraduate School. Students are very interested space and the subjects discussed in Clay’s book and on today’s show.

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Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Business plans, due diligence, Mars One, skepticism, cynicism, SpaceX & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

Our scheduled guest for this program, Dr. Jeff Bell, was a no-show. At the request of several listeners, rather than canceling the program, I let it run as a special Open Lines show. There were no breaks in the discussion. Our first caller in this 1 hour 53 minute discussion was Dwayne who inquired about my frequent comments on the need for a business plan and due diligence in evaluating potential space businesses. I offered to send interested listeners a copy of the business plan outline I work from if they email and request it. We went through the business plan outline I use, then we talked about due diligence for all aspects of the venture including management, financial, marketing, technology, engineering, and more. Dwayne wanted to know about possible market saturation for the low barrier to entry cubesats and Earth imaging satellites now entering the market place. Doug was the next caller. He had wanted to talk with Dr. Bell about an older paper of his showing skepticism for the COTS program which Doug believes to be successful. The discussion with Doug was too long so callers, you need to be succinct, consolidate your comments and questions, and don’t expect unlimited time for your call. As they say, “this was my bad” to have let the call go on for so long and I apologize to those of you who got tired of waiting to call the show and just logged out. The discussion with Doug included how to assess the likely success of a business venture, management, and more. We used both Mars One and SpaceX as examples. Charles then called to talk about his book Microlaunchers and The Space Review’s book review of it by Dr. Jeff Foust. You can read the review at www.thespacereview.com/article/2461/1. Our last caller was Tony who challenged the electric car comments made by Charles and me. Tony wanted to advocate for green technology, solar, etc. I apologize for how I talked to and handled Tony’s call. Because I did not agree with him was no excuse for my being rude and I will do my best to not let that happen again. Tony and I disagree on these issues which is fine by my book. Most of the time listeners don’t know my own thoughts on lots of the topics discussed on TSS so you have no clue if I concur or not with what is being said, but I did engage Tony & I should have been more respectful with him. I understand the validity of the points he was making though I dispute that any of that is reality at this time in the U.S. We ended this special program by pointing out that our regular March OL show is Tuesday, March 4. I will make an announcement when I can reschedule Dr. Bell.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. If you want to reach any of our callers or emailiers, you can do so through me.

If you are listening to archives & rating programs on live365.com, email me the reasons for your rating to help improve the show.

Guest: Dr. Madhu Thangavelu. Topics: NEO student intervention & surveillance design projects, advanced technology. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Dr. Madhu Thangavelu to discuss current graduate student design projects from his most recent USC class which had a theme dealing with NEOs and mitigation strategies. During the first segment of this 1 hour 41 minute show, Dr. Thangavelu focused on the future of the ISS, lunar exploration and settlements, a bit on Mars but mostly on NEO issue and surveillance of dangerous items. He summarized several of the student projects for us including one referred to as “Trojan” asteroids and another referred to as “space rocks to take care of rocks.” Also in this segment we talked about nuclear rocket technology and propulsion, asteroid mining, and Directed Energy devices. For the latter, we spoke about the ease of using the technology as a space weapon. Toward the end of the segment we discussed how to enroll in Madhu ‘s class, especially if you are not a USC graduate engineering student. Our guest summarized the segment saying that planetary defense will happen and his class helps to train and condition creative minds to deal with the problems.

In the second segment, Professor Thangavelu received a listener question about Earthship Houses and the Cal-Earth Institute. Madhu also spoke about the recent NASA NIAC Conference held at Stanford University. Regarding the conference, he spoke about many of the keynote addresses and speakers, plus extremely innovative projects. One such project was Contour Crafting which he said was now in Phase 2 (see www.contourcrafting.org). Another listener went into more detail with him on the USC application process to attend his class, then Madhu went back to sharing more with us regarding the NASA conference. He said keynote speakers were from MythBusters, Google, SETI, SSI, and Dr. Pete Worden of NASA Ames. Later in this segment, he talked about the space business model with Elon Musk, Stratolaunch, and more. He fielded a few specific questions on asteroid mining which he did not think was ripe for investor action at this time. He was asked about green technologies & the student design projects, then about his upcoming article in the Journal of Space Philosophy. One of the last topics was the introduction to us of co-robotics, suggesting we check it out at the National Robotics Initiative ( Google co-robotics for more information).

Guests: Dr. Stan Rosen, Dave Dressler. Topics: The upcoming NSS ISDC 2013 conference, space education, commerce, human exploration, science, & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed back Dr. Stan Rosen and for the first time, Dave Dressler, ISDC 2013 Chair, to talk about the upcoming ISDC 2013 event to be held in La Jolla, CA from May 23-27, and much more. For more ISDC 2013 information, visit their website, http://isdc.nss.org/2013. To find out more about the NSS and join, visit www.nss.org. During our first segment of this 1 hour 44 minute program, Dr. Rosen focused on the reorganization of NSS management and programming, NSS membership, and other changes having taken place in the organization. Dave then started explaining the logistics for the conference including hotels and conference registration, plus the available tours in the San Diego region per conference arrangements and reservations. As for ISDC 2013 content, I asked about social events and we talked about the Saturday night costume (your choice) party and the networking plus open bar before each evening meal/program. During this segment, Dave went into detail about the tours one can go on when registered for the conference. We also talked about ISDC PR, local San Diego media, and much more. We highlighted key speakers and scheduled events. You can see the list of all the speakers confirmed to date at http://isdc.nss.org/2013/speakers-all.shtml.

In our second segment, we talked about specific sessions and speakers based on the Confirmed Tracks page on the ISDC website, http://isdc.nss.org/2013/tracks.shtml. As you can see and hear, topics covered this year are cutting edge space development, commerce, policy, and exploration topics. We highlighted a few of the tracks including Asteroids, Breakthrough Science & Advanced Space Technology Concepts, Emerging Space Applications, SSP, the NSS Roadmap, and Transhumanism. During this segment, the 7th grader I have spoken about on other programs sent me his list of interview questions which I read on the air as an example of why we need NSS and others in terms of education outreach. Both of our guests and a caller talked about the questions plus how best to carry out space education outreach for all grade levels to adults. We talked more about the big Saturday evening party, the band, and the social networking of the event. Our two guests each provided us with closing comments.

If you have any questions/comments, please post them on The Space Show blog. If you want to email either of our guests, do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Robert (Bob) Sackheim. Topics: Commercial space, propulsion, U.S. space policy & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed Robert Sackheim to the program to discuss NASA, commercial space, the current state of rocket propulsion and advancements in the field. During our first segment of this 1 hour 47 minute discussion, Mr. Sackheim talked about his background and experience at TRW, NASA MSFC, and his current consulting. I asked him several questions about the current state of rocket propulsion. Bob had much to say about this, focusing on chemical rocket propulsion, satellite propulsion, electric propulsion, and the need for nuclear propulsion. He talked about booster rockets, various rocket stages and their propulsion, rocket engines, and even SRBs. Several questions came in asking him if we had the current technology for HSF to Mars or even the Inspiration Mars flyby mission talked about so much in the recent press. Listeners wanted to know if our current levels of propulsion were up to the task. After a rather thorough propulsion discussions, Bob turned to commercial space, lowering total space mission costs, regulatory policy, and commercial spaceports. He also talked about budget issues and raised the question a few times as to why ten NASA centers were needed given their often overlapping, competitive, and duplicate work.

In our second segment, commercial space took the lead with a discussion on public/private partnerships & the belief that Americans can do anything if we set our mind to it, including space travel. Of course here the problem as we know lies in leadership and today it appears that leadership in space & other areas is sparse at best. Bob then focused on geo satellites and the increasing development and capabilities applicable to cubesats. HSF came up for discussion as did the robotic missions. You might be surprised by what our guest had to say about HSF. Other issues in this segment included the lunar space elevator, the congressional and NASA track record in canceling ongoing projects & taking lessons from history, SSP, & ways to reform & move NASA forward. Bob spoke about evolving toward the old NACA model. I asked about the impact of space advocacy from his perspective given his leadership experience and past positions in leading organizations and projects. We also asked him about space tourism and hybrid rocket engines. He had much to say about hybrids, don’t miss the discussion. Bob talked about the Falcon rockets, testing including static fire tests, and SRBs as related to the Constellation project and safety. Toward the end, our guest was asked about NewSpace, fuel depots, & cryo transfer. For closing comments, he talked about commercial space being the way to go & the path to our space future.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can reach Mr. Sackheim through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Dr. John Hunter. Topics: Hydrogen gas gun technology and capability, microwave propulsion for delivering cargo. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed back Dr. John Hunter for a fresh look at hydrogen gas gun propulsion technology and capability, microwave propulsion for delivering propellant and delicate cargo, cubesat launchers, and more. During the first segment of our 85 minute program, Dr. Hunter briefly explained his departure from QuickLaunch and the viability of impulse launch with the hydrogen gas gun. He explained how the hydrogen gas gun works which as you will hear is very simple. Dr. Hunter say that with the gas gun, there could be very high payload fractions into the 20’s. Our guest was asked about total costs for the hydrogen gas gun which he referred to as installed costs. Listeners asked him to describe the physical characteristics of the gun and we talked about how many times it could be used without needing refurbishing of some kind. Dr. Hunter also talked about the high pressures and we compared the gun to the old U.S. Navy battleship 18 inch gun from the WWII era. A listener asked if the gun would make a good weapon. The answer was no. John was asked where the gun might be located and talked about Adak & Kodiak, Alaska plus other possible sites in the Lower 48. Listeners then asked if the Alaskan heavier cold air was a factor in using the gun. We learned that the differences between cold air and warm air were minor.

In our second segment, Dr. Hunter introduced us to microwave propulsion launch. He spent some time describing how microwave launch would work and even talked about using consumer quality magnetrons from microwave ovens. In response to listener questions, he talked about demo launches and a Cal Tech student’s PhD thesis on the subject. Later in the segment, our guest was asked about using an impulse launch system as a cubesat launcher given the rise in popularity along with growing demand for cubesats. Our last discussion topic was the use of Kickstarter for funding emerging and startup space projects. Dr. Hunter said it offered real possibilities and advantages for regular people to participate in space companies and projects, but he also issued a warning for people to be alert to not be taken given the lack of oversight with crowd sourcing funding projects in general.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can contact Dr. Hunter through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Dr. James (Jim) Wertz: Topics: Methods for dramatically reducing space mission costs, schedules, & launches. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed Dr. Jim Wertz, President of Microcosm, back to the show to discuss various methods & tools for reducing total space mission costs. Our guest talked about successful programs and tools that have so far contributed to total mission cost reduction. In the first segment of our 1 hour 33 minute program, Dr. Wertz started by defining what he meant by reinventing space. He said this refers to a dramatic reduction in total space mission costs by a factor of 2::10 for schedule related reductions and 2-5 times for space access related costs. Early on he was asked about reducing costs by increasing the launch rate, a common argument heard in various sectors of the space industry. His response might surprise you. Dr. Wertz cited examples to support his comments, specifically Surrey Satellite in the UK (SSTL) as they have been reducing costs successfully for 25 years. He said modern technology must be used. He also pointed us to his Reinventing Space Project with the USC Astronautics Department. Also, he pointed us to these websites for more information, www.smad.com/ie/ieframessr2.html and www.smad.com/ReinventingSpace.html. Dr. Wertz mentioned disaggregation regarding the military using smaller spacecraft and different orbits. He was asked about cubesats and cubesat launchers, the Scorpius launch vehicle, and NanoEye. Jim offered sequestration and budgetary comments and pointed out the difficulty in mission planning and more when the nation continues to operate on CR rather than a budget. He talked about the potential seriousness of the sequestration cuts. In response to questions about the private sector and SAA type agreements, he pointed out that they exclude the smaller, more creative and innovative cutting edge companies as they are often unable to contribute the required financial portion of the agreement. Jim pointed out that the goal was to reduce total mission costs, not just launch costs. He said that the launch cost was not always the most costly component of the mission. As the segment ended, he talked about emergency response and the need for a rapid response, something that is today unavailable.

In the second segment, we talked about the Cassini Resource Exchange as an effective policy that reduced mission costs and enabled an on time project. Don’t miss the details about this program. He again talked about SSTL and pointed out that their attitude is what makes them special & so good. SSTL has pride in reducing mission costs. We don’t have such pride. Dr. Wertz talked about Trading on Requirements and why it is risky. During the first segment, fuel depots were offered up as a possible way to reduce mission costs but Dr. Wertz put them in the marginal category. During this segment, listeners had lots of questions about fuel depots. In fact, it was as if they cared more about their vision and beliefs regarding fuel depots than the overall message Dr. Wertz was putting out. Clearly fuel depots have the attention of space enthusiasts & sectors of the industry no matter what. A listener also asked about advanced propulsion concepts as represented by several companies pushing very advanced designs. Dr. Wertz mentioned that the amateur satellite network could be used to reduce mission costs and talked about the success of AMSAT. More listener questions came in regarding fuel depots, by far the most common discussion and question topic of the day. Jim talked about future programs that may offer economies of scale such as SSP. The last questions came in from Tim regarding our discussion of using pressure fed systems over the use of systems with a turbo pump. He also wanted to know about rocket reusability. Jim’s answers may again surprise you.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. You can email Dr. Wertz through me using drspace@thespaceshow.com.